“Wonderful....Jared Diamond conducts his fascinating study of our behavior and origins with a naturalist’s eye and a philosopher’s cunning.” —Diane Ackerman, author of A Natural History of the Senses In this fascinating, provocative, passionate, funny, endlessly entertaining work, renowned Pulitzer Prize–winning author and scientist Jared Diamond, author of Gun, Germs, and Steel , explores how the extraordinary human animal, in a remarkably short time, developed the capacity to rule the world . . . and the means to irrevocably destroy it. We human beings share 98 percent of our genes with chimpanzees. Yet humans are the dominant species on the planet—having founded civilizations and religions, developed intricate and diverse forms of communication, learned science, built cities, and created breathtaking works of art—while chimps remain animals concerned primarily with the basic necessities of survival. What is it about that two percent difference in DNA that has created such a divergence between evolutionary cousins?  The Third Chimpanzee is a tour de force, an iconoclastic, compelling, sometimes alarming look at the unique and marvelous creature that is the human animal. “Written with great wit and a pleasure to read. . . . The book’s provocative style forces one to reflect thoroughly on the puzzle of human evolution.” - New York Times Book Review “Wonderful. . . . Jared Diamond conducts his fascinating study of our behavior and origins with a naturalist’s eye and a philosopher’s cunning.” - Diane Ackerman, author of A Natural History of the Senses “Plenty of provocative ideas. . . . Diamond is as sharp as his name.” - Kirkus Reviews “ The Third Chimpanzee will endure.” - Edward O. Wilson, Harvard University “Everyone will enjoy reading this brilliant book. It helps us understand what it means to be human.” - Paul Ehrlich, Stanford University, author of The Population Bomb “This informative, most fascinating, and very readable book is highly recommended for all libraries.” - Library Journal The Development of an Extraordinary Species We human beings share 98 percent of our genes with chimpanzees. Yet humans are the dominant species on the planet -- having founded civilizations and religions, developed intricate and diverse forms of communication, learned science, built cities, and created breathtaking works of art -- while chimps remain animals concerned primarily with the basic necessities of survival. What is it about that two percent difference in DNA that has created such a divergence between evolutionary cousins? In this fascinating, provocative, passionate, funny, endlessly entertaining work, renowned Pulitzer Prize–winning author and scientist Jared Diamond explores how the extraordinary human animal, in a remarkably short time, developed the capacity to rule the world . . . and the means to irrevocably destroy it. Jared Diamond is the author of the bestselling Collapse and Guns, Germs, and Steel . A professor of geography at the University of California, Los Angeles, he has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. He is a MacArthur Fellow and was awarded the National Medal of Science. The Third Chimpanzee The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal By Jared M. Diamond HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. Copyright ©2005 Jared M. Diamond All right reserved. ISBN: 0060845503 Chapter One A Tale of Three Chimps The next time you visit a zoo, make a point of walking past the ape cages. Imagine that the apes had lost most of their hair, and imagine a cage nearby holding some unfortunate people who had no clothes and couldn't speak but were otherwise normal. Now try guessing how similar those apes are to us in their genes. For instance, would you guess that a chimpanzee shares 10 percent, 50 percent, or 99 percent of its genetic program with humans? Then ask yourself why those apes are on exhibit in cages, and why other apes are being used for medical experiments, while it's not permissible to do either of those things to humans. Suppose it turned out that chimp genes were 99.9 percent identical to our genes, and that the important differences between humans and chimps were due to just a few genes. Would you still think it's okay to put chimps in cages and to experiment on them? Consider those unfortunate mentally defective people who have much less capacity to solve problems, to care for themselves, to communicate, to engage in social relationships, and to feel pain than do apes. What is the logic that forbids medical experiments on those people, but not on apes? You might answer that apes are "animals," while humans are humans, and that's enough. An ethical code for treating humans shouldn't be extended to an "animal," no matter how similar its genes are to ours, and no matter what its capacity for social relationships or feeling pain. That's an arbitrary but at least self-consist